PIAM, departments to jointly hold road safety awareness campaign

KUCHING: The Sarawak Committee of Malaysia General Insurance Association ( PIAM) in collaboration with Road Transport Department (JPJ), Royal Malaysian Police and Road Safety Department will be holding a Road Safety Awareness Campaign on Sept 14-15 at Plaza Merdeka.

Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen is expected to officiate at the event.

According to a press release issued by the association, the campaign aims to reach out to the public and create awareness on the importance of road safety, as well as to inculcate good driving habits among all drivers to reduce road accidents and fatalities in East Malaysia.

“Malaysia has one of the highest accident and fatality rates in the region. PIAM is intensifying collaboration with all major stakeholders to reduce road accidents nationwide.

“It may be possible to reduce national accidents by 20 per cent in the short term and 50 per cent in the long term if we change our bad driving habits. We need to get serious about enforcement and charging bad drivers higher for their dangerous and irresponsible behavior on the roads,” said association chairman Antony Lee.

A series of briefings have been planned for school children and visitors including a demonstration on how to use safety helmets correctly and why scheduled car and motorcycle inspections are crucial in preventing unnecessary accidents. The campaign will feature a colouring contest with road safety theme as edutainment for children.

Exhibition booths will be put up to showcase the activities of PIAM, JPJ, PDRM and JKJR. Visitors are encouraged to approach the Mobile JPJ van which is specially deployed to provide their services. Compound payments are made easy with the setting up of counters by JPJ and PDRM.

Admission is free. Members of the public are encouraged to attend and participate in the various activities.